A few years ago, a fellow employee told me she read a book that said to help with weight loss, you shouldn’t drink cold water; but instead, drink room-temperature water.From that moment on, I began drinking room-temperature water, foregoing all offers of ice from hosts, and refusing to put my bottled water in the refrigerator.

Then, as luck would have it, while on vacation, I saw a television show that said drinking ice cold water actually burns calories!!I was astonished, and decided to skip the beach and listen to what this show had to say.To think, all of these years I have been avoiding cold water to lose weight, and the very opposite was true!

So, how does this phenomenon work?Well, it is very simple.When you consume ice cold water, your body actually has to “work,” i.e. burn calories to warm up the water.Depending on how much water you drink, this can add up to 5lbs or more per year in weight loss; just for enjoying a nice, refreshing glass of ice cold water!It is estimated that each 16 ounce glass of ice cold water you drink, burns about 17 to 18 calories, which seems nominal at first; but if you add up all of the glasses of ice cold water you drink per day, and then per year, those calories really start to stack up in your favor!

So, the next time a host offers you some ice for your water, smile and say, yes please!